Passenger Taken Off Delta Flight In A Stretcher After Drinking Her Own Alcohol On Board

by Gary Leff

Jun 11 2021

CBS This Morning Saturday co-host Dana Jacobson happened to be on board Delta flight DL1131 from Los Angeles to New York JFK on Thursday when the Boeing 757 was forced to divert to Detroit due to a raucous passenger reportedly drinking their own alcohol. She live-tweeted the experience, from people coming on board to the whole plane being offloaded, and captured video of the passenger being removed on a stretcher.

As the passenger is being taken off the plane she yells, “Did I get physical with anybody on the flight?” as though that would be the only justification for taking her off. Apparently she wanted the crew and law enforcement to wait for their drunk passenger to actually do harm before reacting to the situation.

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American Airlines Gate Agents Are Under So Much Pressure, People Are Getting Left Behind

by Gary Leff

american airlines lounge
Jun 11 2021

With planes full again, there’s so much pressure to get out right at “D0” that one gate agent shared a story on social media of leaving people behind at the gate. There were seats available because some customers didn’t show, and the agent wasn’t able to put employees waiting to travel on the flight in their place – because it would have meant an extra couple of minutes, which the airline won’t abide.

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CNN: Serving Booze In First Class While Banning It In Coach Is “Dickensian”

by Gary Leff

airline seats
Jun 11 2021

First class comes at a higher price point than coach and comes bundled with additional services, including drink service. The irony of course is that the difference between first class and coach really shrunk throughout the pandemic.

Meal service hasn’t returned in earnest to most domestic flights up front, with packaged cold items the norm on many domestic flights – and even that was an improvement over what airlines had been serving. In other words, first class passengers saw more cost cuts than those who were just buying transportation. There’s ‘an aviation angle’ to the axe any writer has to grind. But it’s almost always wrong.

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American Airlines Promotes Billion Dollar Order Of Electric Aircraft That May Never Happen

by Gary Leff

Jun 10 2021

In February United Airlines made a splash ordering electric aircraft with the idea of transporting people from urban centers like Manhattan over to Newark. Now four months later American Airlines announces that it, too, is investing in urban air mobility, maybe.

The aircraft in question hasn’t had a test flight yet, but they’re touting that “certification of the aircraft [could come] as early as 2024” which means it will be farther out into the future than that.

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American Airlines Is Adding 14 New Destinations From Austin, Quadrupling Its Reach In A Year

by Gary Leff

Jun 10 2021

For years Austin has been one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the country, tracking the city’s growth more generally. Before the pandemic American Airlines was looking at three new routes to augment its flights to hubs.

Earlier this year they announced 10 new routes. The ones that have launched are doing well. Now they’re announcing 14 new routes, 5 of which are international. They’re converting seasonal service to year-round. And adding frequencies to existing routes. All in all they’re quadrupling their destinations in a little over a year.

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